PSO2: New Genesis Ver.2 August Update will add new difficult quests and Uncle From Another World content
Sega has been known for providing substantial gameplay and content updates to Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis every two months. Following the massive update to Ver.2 last June, the next mid-scale update will predictably come in August. And Sega did confirm that in the July 2023 NGS Headline program.
Most of the new gameplay content will arrive on August 2. The second part of the story's Chapter 6 will be made available, and it will showcase a new outfit for Manon, one of the title's two main heroines. The update will also add a permanent Leciel Exploration quest where up to 8 players can revisit the floating island with randomized layouts and enemies. The Growthment currency obtained from this quest can be used to obtain new weapons that have a 100% critical hit rate.
The upcoming bi-monthly mid-scale update will also add a new Preset Skill enhancement feature where players may add a new preset skill to a weapon or armor if it doesn't have one already, or upgrade the level if it does. While prior versions already let them set Preset Skills on the exact same item, this update will allow players to enhance the skill of a weapon by using another weapon type from the same series.
An Alliance version of Creative Space will also be made available with exclusive features like a bulletin board for Alliances that have at least 4 members. Sega will also add new Creative Space parts every two months, and the upcoming August update will add parts themed after the Retem desert region.
The week after on August 9, Sega will introduce Dark Falz Solus as the boss of "Sign of the Planetbreaker," a new permanent high-difficulty 4-player quest. It will have a very potent attack that cannot be parried and thus must be avoided by moving out of the range. The quest will also have a strict challenge where the party would fail if any player gets incapacitated five times, in a similar fashion to the existing Dark Falz Interception R2.
On the same day, content from Uncle from Another World will also appear in the online game. A new scratch banner will give players chances to obtain items and avatar parts modeled after the Uncle, Elf, and Mabel. Its lineup will also include Sega's legacy consoles like Master System, Genesis, and Saturn as Creative Space parts.
Near the end of the program, Sega revealed that Oshi no Ko will fill the 'new 2023 anime' collaboration slot in September. In accordance with the late 2023 roadmap, that leaves the Sci-Fi anime and Sci-Fi toy line between October-November and the action anime collab in December.
You can find archived versions of the July 2023 NGS Headline right below. Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis is available worldwide on PC and PlayStation 4. The free-to-play online game also has a Nintendo Switch cloud version in Japan and an Xbox One release elsewhere globally.